Living off welfare

Re: “Sign of ignorance”, (PostBag, Feb 4).

I take issue with Mr Nagi’s statement that: “For immigrants, there is no other choice but to succeed in a foreign land”. While this may be true in countries such as India, where he is from, it most certainly is not the case in developed countries such as Sweden or the UK.

It’s common now for people who have successfully immigrated to first-world countries, such as those in Northern Europe, to sponsor family members from their previous nation to come along, including elderly parents. These elderly people do not work but rather receive social welfare from the state in which they now inhabit, in addition to familial help.

Furthermore, many people who come from poor countries now seek asylum in Western countries, and they receive the full range of social benefits that normal citizens do, but unlike normal citizens, the refugees do not work.

Recently, a homeless man froze to death in Scarborough, England, just outside of lavish four- and five-star hotels where Albanian and Afghanistani refugees were housed. Unsurprisingly, the native inhabitants of Western countries are now getting fed up with having their hard-earned tax dollars used to support foreigners who are not working in these countries. AN EXPAT IN THAILAND